France sells arms to countries accused of serious human rights violations. This is the case with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The evidence of the crimes perpetrated by these states is numerous and documented, as Disclose has demonstrated on several occasions. Yet, in contradiction with its international commitments, the French state continues to deliver war material to them. In what proportion and for what final recipient – security forces, armies ? It is impossible to know: the state keeps this information secret.

To get around this major obstacle to citizens’ right to information, and to allow public debate to exist, Disclose and human rights organizations Amnesty International France, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) , demand the Paris administrative court order French customs authorities to disclose information relating to the export of military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This request concerned the transfer of Mirage 2000-9 aircraft (Dassault), Storm Shadow missiles (MBDA France), Damocles and Talios pods (Thales) and Caesar cannons (Nexter).

The legal challenge follows two unanswered requests for information submitted by the organizations to the French customs authorities and the French Commission on Access to Administrative Documents (CADA). The organizations asked customs to disclose export documents specifying the quantities, dates and final destinations of certain war materials produced by France and reported to have been used in the conflict in Yemen.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians by the Saudi and UAE-led coalition in Yemen since 2015, France has delivered more than 8 billion euros worth of war materials over the period 2015-2020 to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, thus taking the deliberate risk of facilitating the commission of possible war crimes. Yet, France is bound by international, European and French obligations which prohibit arms transfers when there is a clear risk that the arms could be used in violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. 

The lack of transparency into France’s arms transfers is a major obstacle to parliamentary, judicial and democratic control, inhibiting a meaningful oversight of France’s international obligations under human rights law. 

In 2019, an investigation conducted by Disclose revealed to the public the use of several French weapons in the conflict in Yemen. A survey conducted by Harris Interactive in 2021 revealed that three out of four French people want more transparency and control over French arms exports, and 72% believe that trading arms  which are used in countries such as Yemen contradicts  French values and should be the subject of a public debate.